The end of my radiator rattle!

SwedishPimple

After several heating seasons of occasionally spitting vents and a constant metallic rattling noise in my main living room radiator I finally found my fix. I had tried numerous things including: checking/shimming the radiator level, insulating the pipes, replacing the air vents, turning down the pressure on the system, adding main vents... etc. And although some of these adjustments did help my steam system as a whole run better... none of it helped with that persistent rattle.

So when the issue continued, even after the poorly piped leaky old boiler was replaced with a new one with proper header piping...I knew it was time to figure this out once and for all.

I had suspicions about the 1.25" radiator supply valve. It was tough to turn and although it seemed to be fully opened by way of the knob there wasn't anyway for me to tell what was going on in there. I wasn't even able to open the valve stem...grrr. Time to replace. So, I ordered a new valve a researched some methods for removing the old one. I finally decided that cutting it off would be my best shot (see the video links below for the method I used).

Taking the old valve off was a chore. Fortunately brass is relatively easy to cut. But even with that, it took me 2.5 hours to carefully cut bang and twist the old valve and nipple out of the radiator. I was trying to avoid damaging the threads in the radiator or on the pipe. On the plus side the new valve was a snap to install.

Anyway... that did it!
No more rattle and the air vent is as happy as a clam!

I used the following videos as my how to guide: (These are well done)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3u1J0hDWJJo
https://youtube.com/watch?v=reWR-2i0-D0

Anyway... just sharing in case this helps someone else. Have a great Friday!

Thanks all!
S.P.

JStar

Was the disc broken inside the valve. Is that what was chattering?

SwedishPimple

Hi JStar- I'm not sure what was wrong with the part? After I cut the valve off I quickly dispatched of it without taking a really close look. To be honest, I was more interested in just getting everything back together at the time.

I suspect it just wasn't opening fully, but there may have been a broken part as well. It was tough to turn.

I think I still have it in a scrap pile... I ended up cutting it completely in half during removal. I'll dig it out later and see if I can sleuth out what was causing the noise.

S.P.

SwedishPimple

Update: After taking a closer look at the remains of the old valve it would appear that the entire stem had sheared off at some point. There wasn't much keeping the washer or other valve guts from flapping in the breeze.

S.P.